The present invention relates to a charge monitoring apparatus for monitoring an operation of charging a battery mounted on a vehicle such as an electric vehicle or a hybrid vehicle.
In the automobile industry, recently, an electric vehicle which travels by using only electricity as energy, and a hybrid vehicle on which both an engine and an electric motor are mounted are practically used from the standpoints of carbon dioxide emission reduction and efficient use of energy. In a usual hybrid vehicle, kinetic energy generated when the vehicle is decelerated is recovered while being converted to electric energy, and then charged into a battery, and the recovered electric energy is used in traveling to suppress consumption of a fuel such as gasoline. In the case where only the recovery of kinetic energy generated when a vehicle is decelerated is used, however, the effect of reducing the fuel consumption is small, and also the effect of reducing carbon dioxide is small.
In order to enhance the effect of reducing carbon dioxide, therefore, a plug-in hybrid vehicle (plug-in HV) has been developed. A plug-in hybrid vehicle has a function that a plug disposed on the vehicle is inserted into a domestic power supply socket or the like and a battery of the vehicle is charged by a domestic power supply (commercial AC power supply: AC 100 V or the like). In addition to kinetic energy which can be recovered when the vehicle is decelerated, therefore, also electric energy which is obtained from the domestic power supply by charging can be used in travel of the vehicle. Consequently, the use frequency of the electric motor can be enhanced to suppress the fuel consumption, and the electric motor which has a high efficiency can be used highly frequently to enhance the effect of reduction of carbon dioxide.
On the other hand, in order to enhance the effect of reducing carbon dioxide which is discharged in relation to a vehicle, also an economical driving operation is very effective. When a driving operation accompanied by large fuel consumption in a short time period, such as a case where sudden acceleration is performed during driving of a vehicle is eliminated, for example, the fuel consumption can be suppressed, and the effect of reducing carbon dioxide can be enhanced.
As a technique available for enabling the driver of a vehicle to perform an economical driving operation, conventionally, a tachograph and a navigation apparatus have been put into practical application and used.
A tachograph periodically obtains information indicating the driving situation of a vehicle, such as the vehicle speed and the number of revolutions of the engine, and records the information as time series information. A business such as a taxi company or a trucking company refers to and analyzes the time series information recorded by the tachograph, so that it is possible to know whether the driver of the vehicle performs an economical driving operation or not. This can be used for enhancing the effect of reducing carbon dioxide.
A navigation apparatus can perform the following operations: the current position of a vehicle on which the apparatus is mounted is measured, and map information related to the vicinity of the current position is displayed on a screen; a possible travelling route from the current position to the destination is automatically determined; and latest traffic information such as information indicating the traffic jam situation, or the accident occurrence situation is obtained, and the information is reflected into a change of the possible travelling route. When a navigation apparatus is used, for example, it is possible to determine the possible travelling route so that the vehicle travels through the shortest route, or change the possible travelling route so that the route avoids a jammed location or a location of an accident. Therefore, this can be used for enhancing the effect of reducing carbon dioxide.
In an actual use of a tachograph, in order to enable an administrator in a taxi company, a trucking company, or the like to know the travelling situations of vehicles, however, a large amount of information stored in tachographs mounted on the vehicles must be retrieved from the tachographs, and then transferred to an apparatus (for example, a personal computer) on the side of the administrator.
For example, Patent Reference 1 discloses a conventional technique for transferring information from a tachograph which is a vehicle-mounted apparatus to an apparatus on the side of the administrator. Patent Reference 1 proposes information transfer in which a wireless communication interface that can perform packet communication is used, or a detachable memory card is used.
By contrast, in the case where a navigation apparatus is used, for example, latest map information or the like is always necessary in order to determine an optimum possible travelling route. When, although a new road which can avoid a jammed location included in a possible travelling route has been completed, old map information in which information of the new road is not reflected is used, for example, it is impossible to avoid the jammed location, and hence the effect of reducing carbon dioxide cannot be sufficiently enhanced.
In the case where a navigation apparatus for a vehicle is used, conventionally, map information or the like that is used in the navigation apparatus which is a vehicle-mounted apparatus is usually updated to latest information by using a detachable information recording medium such as a CD (Compact Disc) or a DVD, or by using mobile packet communication. In the conventional technique disclosed in Patent Reference 2, when map data are to be updated, for example, the use of differential data is enabled in order to reduce the amount of data to be transferred by communication.    [Patent Reference 1] JP-A-2008-108235    [Patent Reference 2] JP-A-2008-249624
In the case where a public wireless communication network is used in the data transfer from a tachograph which is a vehicle-mounted apparatus to an extravehicular administrating apparatus, however, there is a problem in that, when the data amount is increased, the communication cost such as the packet communication fee is raised, and another problem of security arises. In the case where data are transferred by using a detachable recording medium such as a memory card, there is a possibility that leakage of information to a third party may be caused by a loss of the memory card, or that accumulated important data may be lost by physical breakage of the memory card.
Also in the case where a navigation apparatus is used, similarly, there is a problem in that, when a public wireless communication network is used in update of a database such as a map used in the apparatus to latest information, the communication cost is raised. In the case where the database is to be updated by using a detachable information recording medium such as a CD or a DVD, a reading apparatus (such as a DVD drive) for reading data from such a dedicated information recording medium is necessary, and there is a possibility that the information recording medium may be physically broken.